Covid and Knitting -- Not In That Order

 I have a finished object:

I have knit sweaters before, but this is the first one that actually fits! It is the Fullerton Cardigan, which was published in the now-defunct Knitscene magazine. It is an easy, well-written pattern that would be a great first sweater. The yarn, Croft West Yorkshire Spinners, is a beautiful, lofty worsted weight. It is pretty scratchy, but it was fine over the turtleneck. I'll soak it to try to soften it up.

There has been a lot of knitting -- all on another sweater, Design 10, which turned out to be a total disaster. It's in time out while I decide whether to try to fix or frog it.

Last weekend I mentioned that I took my mom to the hospital for a colonoscopy. I didn't add that the outpatient surgery center was crowded and there were no Covid safety measures. There were people with masks on their chins and large family groups hanging around.  I knew it wasn't safe, but how do you walk out on your 85-year-old mother?

On Tuesday evening, I realized I had a sore throat, which lasted for a few days. I was also very tired. So, I either had a cold or Covid. I couldn't get a test until Thursday and now, 36 hours later, I still don't have results. I do know that I got it at the hospital because I had been homebound for the two weeks preceding the colonoscopy with a kidney stone.

Here's the worst part: I'm supposed to visit Seth in Chicago on Tuesday. Obviously I don't want to expose him to Covid. I decided that I'm going to go whether I have Covid or not. I'll drive to the Air Bnb, which seems safe to me. By the end of my visit I can go to museums, under CDC guidance. I've been homebound for more than three weeks now, so any change of scene will be appreciated!

There Is Still Knitting

 After all, this is a knitting blog. And I do knit every day.

(BTW, excuse my long absence... the High Holy Days always throw me off.)

I am trying to focus on a few projects instead of being so scattered. I have a friend who is a monogamous knitter and she finishes so many things.  Inspired by her, I've made decent progress on the linen-stitch scarf.

It is very pretty and it will be a cozy scarf. However, I am still quite sure this will be my last linen stitch project.  Too tedious. And it's very easy to make mistakes.

After four unsuccessful attempts, I put the Porto Sweater into time out. Instead I'm working on Design 10. Yes that's it's name. It's an easy cardigan so I should be able to finish this one. Normally I would not make a sweater with only three projects on Ravelry, but I saw a sample at the yarn store in Evanston and fell in love with it.

All the colors are off ... I waited too long in the day to take good photos.

Now for some exciting news: The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Show actually took place in person.  I went with my friend Suzi, who I haven't seen in a while. She's a retired teacher, too, and it was so much fun to catch up. And, I wasn't too extravagant in my purchases!

A yarn store about 30 minutes from my house is about to start a mitten knit-along, so I purchased two skeins from their booth to make the
Songbird Mittens for Rachel.

I also picked up two luscious indie skeins of DK destined to be fingerless mitts:

And this bag just insisted that I take it home with me:

It was wonderful to attend High Holy Days services in person. Worship really is a community experience. My congregation is a combination of hippie and traditional Judaism that hits the right notes for me. I feel very lucky to have this unusual schul (Yiddish for synagogue) in my life. As always, I was very busy repenting!